Page 18 of Indescribable Love
Juliette accepted the glass of wine Nikki handed her with a smile. “We are! I know we’ve been at this basically since last night…”
“Who knew you had to strain ricotta?” Celia said with a laugh before taking a sip of her wine.
“Well, it also gave us time to get the ravioli cutter,” she replied. “And thank you again for being willing to drive an hour to get it.”
“Are you kidding? I love going shopping. And if it’s a store dedicated to kitchen and cooking items, even better!”
“We now have several new cake pans that we didn’t really need,” Nikki said dryly.
“Our cake pans are home. Now I can bake with quality cake pans while we’re here.”
“We’re only going to be here for another nine days,” Nikki reminded her. “How much cake do we need?”
The grin Celia gave her was slightly devious. “Challenge accepted.”
“Oh, no…” Simon groaned. “Not the challenges. You guys…”
“What? What’s wrong with challenges?” Juliette asked.
“They’re very competitive,” he told her as he came to stand beside her. “Trust me. There is going to be a fresh cake at every meal.” Another groan. “My stomach already hurts just thinking about it.”
Personally, Juliette didn’t see a problem. “Any chance there are muffin pans?” she asked. “And just…FYI…I really love chocolate chip muffins. I’m just saying…”
Simon groaned louder. “Great. Encourage this. Whose side are you even on?”
She knew he was teasing, and if anything, it just made her like him a little more.
Even if he was a phony.
Eventually, he’d have to break. No one could keep up that act 24/7. By the end of the weekend, Juliette knew she’d get to see the real Simon Bennett.
Or…the real Simon Wylder.
And she couldn’t wait.
Well, Simon had wanted to see another side of Juliette, and he certainly had.
And none of it was what he expected.
Her cooking skills were amazing, she had a wicked sense of humor and wasn’t afraid to make fun of herself, but she was incredibly strict and almost militant when in the kitchen.
But the most unexpected was how she was totally leaning into this cake and baking challenge between Celia and Nikki. Every day, and at almost every meal, she had a new request for Celia. In the last three days, they’d had cheesecake, an assortment of cookies, apple pie, brownies, a death by chocolate cake, and a variety of muffins. Sweets weren’t normally his thing, but he really thought they’d be through with this nonsense by now.
“Celia’s going to make a caramel apple coffee cake for tomorrow,” Juliette said when she breezed into the room.
He’d been enjoying some creative time downstairs and was working on a song, but she looked very serious and businesslike, and he hoped whatever she came down here for, that it wasn’t just about cake.
Primly, she sat down at the opposite end of the sofa and let out a soft breath. “Simon,” she began, “I’ve been here with you for a week now, and I think it’s time for us to have a serious talk.”
That certainly got his attention. Placing his guitar aside, he nodded. “Okay…”
“I’d like to think that I’ve shown you how there’s more to me than just…you know…the PR person. We’ve laughed and joked around, we’ve cooked together, watched movies, and talked about a bunch of random stuff.”
Another nod. “We have.”
She studied him for a long moment, as if trying to carefully choose her words. “The thing is, this isn’t going to work if only one of us is showing their true self.” Then she just watched him and waited for…something.
“Um…”